What have you done with/to your GC Series 2300, 2400, 1700 Tractor TODAY

[dicktill]

I have a 2022 Massey Ferguson GC 1723EB nicknamed "Fergie" after Sarah Ferguson, Dutchess of York. I also call her "my red-headed mistress".

Today is Fergie's first birthday, and she has 421 easy rough hours on her. She has had all manner of indignities thrust upon her but is holding up well.

 

[masseyrider]

I have a 2022 Massey Ferguson GC 1723EB nicknamed "Fergie" after Sarah Ferguson, Dutchess of York. I also call her "my red-headed mistress".

Today is Fergie's first birthday, and she has 421 easy rough hours on her. She has had all manner of indignities thrust upon her but is holding up well.

What do you do?
I have Ellie my 2007 GC2300 with a belly mower. Just turned over 400hrs. In 17 years.
My 1725m with loader is a 2022 and has aboot 35hrs.

 

[dicktill]

What do you do?
I have Ellie my 2007 GC2300 with a belly mower. Just turned over 400hrs. In 17 years.
My 1725m with loader is a 2022 and has aboot 35hrs.

With that ridiculous number of hours, I'd like to tell you that I've been doing contract work for others, but the truth is that I am just a "hobby user". And it was an unusual year:
- We had knocked down over 200 trees (mostly red pines) the year before and they had to be dragged away.
- We had a bunch of ditching to do.
- We had a bunch of "landscaping" to do.
- Our 750-foot private road (with 3 houses) needed extensive reshaping.
- Our own driveway needed extensive reshaping, including removing a huge amount of concrete debris from a demo/addition 30 years ago ("seemed like a good idea at the time").
- It was fun (mostly), like playing with my own giant Tonka toy.

In the future, hours per year will drop dramatically. I'm hoping not to burn through my 10-year/2000-hour extended warranty before 2033. No plans to use this for mowing or plowing. In fact, more than 50% of the hours have been using the 60" Land Pride RB1660 back blade. The 3-point hitch and the back blade are fully hydraulically actuated with twin-tilt cylinders, top cylinder, and another cylinder on the back blade to rotate it.

I also have modified the factory optional mechanical backhoe thumb with yet another hydraulic cylinder. One of these days when I get everything working the way I want, I'll post a thread.

 

[irvingj]

And I still have my MMM on, haven't even thought yet about getting the blower out -- still have at least one more round of using the MMM and a DR Leaf Vac all over the yard. Then I'll think about pulling the MMM and (like Dave) will do a full service on it and put it away for the winter....

My 2007 (started life Feb. of 2008) 2310 is now showing 1195 hrs. (Ray: "Still ticking" on the OEM battery....!)

 

[hube2]

What Massey approved spacers? My dealer told me none were available and that they would void the warranty!

Massey does not have any spacers. I think Dave was referring to what he used being less expensive than spacers that are cut specifically to fit the GC, like Bro-Tek, currently $190 a set. And you are correct, no spacers are approved by Massey and my dealer would not even discuss them. I put them on anyway. The odds of them causing an issue during are extremely small if not non-existent and I was okay taking the chance that I'd void the warranty. Spacers make the tractor safer and the tight clearance on the left wheel makes using chains a gamble without the spacers. My plan was that if there was ever and issue with the tractor to take the spacers off before I called the dealer.

 

[Dmacleo]

What Massey approved spacers? My dealer told me none were available and that they would void the warranty!

my dealer sells some. unsure brand details as...you can see...I don't deal with it. all I know is they use the org lug STUDS (which I detest) to hold spacer upon hub.
possible brotek like hube mentioned above.
dunno, when I walked into dealer last week were 2" spacers made for GC on counter. I ignored it as...well...you know.

 

[Dmacleo]

With that ridiculous number of hours, I'd like to tell you that I've been doing contract work for others, but the truth is that I am just a "hobby user". And it was an unusual year:
- We had knocked down over 200 trees (mostly red pines) the year before and they had to be dragged away.
- We had a bunch of ditching to do.
- We had a bunch of "landscaping" to do.
- Our 750-foot private road (with 3 houses) needed extensive reshaping.
- Our own driveway needed extensive reshaping, including removing a huge amount of concrete debris from a demo/addition 30 years ago ("seemed like a good idea at the time").
- It was fun (mostly), like playing with my own giant Tonka toy.

In the future, hours per year will drop dramatically. I'm hoping not to burn through my 10-year/2000-hour extended warranty before 2033. No plans to use this for mowing or plowing. In fact, more than 50% of the hours have been using the 60" Land Pride RB1660 back blade. The 3-point hitch and the back blade are fully hydraulically actuated with twin-tilt cylinders, top cylinder, and another cylinder on the back blade to rotate it.

I also have modified the factory optional mechanical backhoe thumb with yet another hydraulic cylinder. One of these days when I get everything working the way I want, I'll post a thread.

I use my GC2400 just to check the mail 800ft one way every day. screw walking, don't care what the surgeon or therapists say. hop on push a pedal.

 

[Dmacleo]

was gonna do oil change. until I found out 2 of the massey oil qts in shed were funnels I made. thought I had 4 qts on hand. nope 1 qt and 1 in toolbox of truck....so only 2 qts on hand.
many fuel filters on hand, few oil filters on hand, just not the actual oil. so today fuel filter getting changed. tomorrow after yet another knee therapy will grab oil from dealer.

 

[Dmacleo]

time to pressure wash/degrease blower, service and assemble chute.

 

[cdaigle430]

been looking at those actual ones. they come off easy when covered in ice? normally (last winter here in Maine was an outlier) I often need bucket to move snow banks at end of road so need to bite in.

as long as you can get to the one bolt.

 

[ray66v]

My 2007 (started life Feb. of 2008) 2310 is now showing 1195 hrs. (Ray: "Still ticking" on the OEM battery....!)

Unplug it for 2 days, let it sit, and let's see it start.

I do have 6.5 years on my current battery, which is a Deka, under the O'Riley label. Deka was rated well for tractor vibrations.

Tried everything else I ever found to be reliable. They are all crap now. None of them lasted more than 4-5 years.


My Amsoil ATH trans oil, has 400 hours on it, even though I did not plan to do it, I'm going to replace it in the spring.

I drained a sample during fall maintenance, and found it to have darkened some.

The price of the semi-synthetic Permatran is attractive. So, I'll give that a go.

 

[irvingj]

"Unplug it for 2 days, let it sit, and let's see it start. "

Ha-ha! I do plug it in Ray, but only (so far) for the block heater. When it gets really cold, I'll occasionally need a charger on the battery, too. And you're right, after it has sat for a few days it's always harder to start.

I also think Deka makes a good battery -- I just replaced all four coach batteries in my RV. They were "only" 9 years old, but had been heavily stressed twice, once by me (left inverter turned on for several days-- still kicking myself over that one) and more recently by being over-charged by the additional alternator on its engine (still have to fix that issue).

It came with Deka deep-cycle AGM golf cart batteries, and I replaced them with the same -- 8AGC2 6-volters, in a series-parallel arrangement. $400 each. Ouch.

So the ol' 2310 is now finished with mowing & leaf pick-up duty, so I need to pull the MMM and service it, then get out the blower... but I really wrecked my back pulling those RV batteries out of the front location -- they're 70 pounds each!-- so I'll need to get some assistance removing and then standing the MMM up; I know I can't do it by myself any more. Age is finally catching up, I guess. Damn.

 

[Dmacleo]

more of a what did you buy FOR your GC kind of post.
bought a trailer to haul snowblower to Dads house 30 miles 1 way if needed. blower with bucket is just over 15ft long and the 14ft single axle was too short and was technically overweight. this is 7x20.

 

[irvingj]

Not sure where I'd put it, but there are times I wish I had a trailer like that!

My 2310: finally pulled the MMM, in the process of servicing that... then on to wood pile moving and getting the blower out.....

 

[Dmacleo]

Not sure where I'd put it, but there are times I wish I had a trailer like that!

I'd put it on the ground if I were you. too heavy to float

 

[MF RED in MT]

800 hours on the MF, only 200 hours to go and it will be new again like irvingj's.

10 degrees this morning and another dusting of snow last night.

Switched to the rear weight box and the MF Dozer Blade a few weeks ago and today I'm going to install the tire chains.

Guess I had to wait until it cooled off a bit to install the tire chains, ha.

Anyways last weekend I swapped the tires/wheels on the F150 to the winter studded tires.

Guess we have had about a foot of snow total in the last 2 weeks, winter is a coming.

Picture is a few Whitetails on the lookout for a buck this morning.

KC

 

[Racer4]

I’ve got 2 cars to swap snow tires onto tomorrow. Then I have to pull the loader and hoe off of the gc2410 and put the snow blower on. Supposed to get 5-8” here Thursday and Friday.

Sucks because I still have some loader and hoe work i was hoping to get done yet this year. Hell I just got my leaves and beds cleaned up today. Oh yeah, have to wash the gc and my zero turn tomorrow too. ZT is filthy from using the power bagger.

 

[irvingj]

Well, the fun never stops! Got the MMM off, serviced & put away, pulled out the 2360 blower...and noticed a wet, oily spot under it....

Yep, the seals on the blower gearbox --at least the one on the right side-- is leaking. I'm guessing it's lost half its oil, so now a decision: fix it now, or try to get through the winter with it as is?

And I just rebuilt the whole gear reduction chain drive a year or two ago -- new chain, sprocket, stub shaft/sprocket, couple bearings... Now it looks like the whole thing will have to come apart (again) to get at those seals in the auger gearbox....

 

[Dmacleo]

if not fix it now at least get the suspected needed parts in hand to prevent down time at the worst possible moment.

 

[irvingj]

Way ahead of ya! Ordered this AM. In the meantime, I guess I could always add gear oil periodically.

An interesting aside -- Kubota's blower is also made by RAD Technologies in Canada, and they share many parts (but not all). Our local Kubota dealer was willing to order their "Seal Kit" for their stock, so I can compare it to the one from M-F. The K-place is only about 35 minutes away, as opposed to the nearest M-F dealer, which is 1-1/2 hrs away for me.

Not surprisingly, Kubota's seal kit lists for $43.70 while M-F's is $68.84. That's about typical, I've found: M-F parts --when they're demonstrably the same-- will run around 35% more$$$ than the Kubota part. (My blower now has quite a few Kubota parts on it -- shear pins, scraper blade, reduction sprocket & chain....)